CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

CIMSS-NOAA WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 6, 2026

DATA, INFORMATION, AND USE-INSPIRED SCIENCE:

PEOPLE, AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

TRAVEL AND MEETINGS:

University of Wisconsin-Madison CIMSS and SSEC Participation at the 2026 AMS 106th Annual Conference: Representatives from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), and Madison-based local NOAA scientists participated in the 106th Annual American Meteorological Society (AMS) meeting held the week of January 25-29, 2026 in Houston, TX. There were over 60 session chairing/co-chairing duties, oral presentations, and posters by CIMSS/SSEC staff as part of the 22nd Annual Symposium on Operational Environmental Satellite Systems, 27th Conference on Satellite Meteorology, Oceanography, and Climatology, 14th AMS Symposium on the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), Second Conference on Fire Weather, Technology and Risk (FireWx2), 25th Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science, 24th History Symposium, 16th Conference on Transition of Research to Operations, 28th Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry, 40th Conference on Hydrology, 26th Symposium on Meteorological Observation and Instrumentation. Many participated in board, committee, and other side meetings including with NOAA OAR and NESDIS upper management on a host of topics. Several were judges for student presentations. The SSEC booth in the exhibit hall highlighted advances with the SSEC Portable Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC), McIDAS-V, CSPP Geosphere, SSEC RealEarth, and other hardware/software support. In coordination with the UW-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, CIMSS was also represented at the AMS Student Career Resource and Graduate School Fair; the increased visibility with current students will improve interest in attending UW-Madison as CIMSS graduate students and the SSEC Summer Internship program (https://ssec.wisc.edu/summer-internships). (W. Feltz, CIMSS/SSEC, 608-265-6283, wayne.feltz@ssec.wisc.edu; T. L’Ecuyer, CIMSS/SSEC, 608-890-2107, tlecuyer@wisc.edu, R.B. Pierce, SSEC, 608-890-1892, C. Dahmen, SSEC, 608-263-9293)

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Figure: Visitors to SSEC's booth at AMS, including SSEC and NOAA staff.

TRAINING AND EDUCATION:

MEDIA INTERACTIONS AND REQUESTS:

SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOG Posts:

CIMSS Satellite Blog Updates: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog (https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/) was updated with the following posts: "Winter storm brings snowfall to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states" (Feb. 1), "Invest 94W Poised to Become Tropical Cyclone" (Feb. 3), "GOES-19 SUVI detects a brief solar flare" (Feb. 4) and "Tehuano gap wind event" (Feb. 5). (S. Bachmeier, T. Wagner, CIMSS, 608-890-1980)

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Figure: GOES-19 Water Vapor image (left) and Infrared image (right) at 2232 UTC on January 31, 2026 -- showing mesoscale cloud bands that were enhancing snowfall rates as they moved northward across eastern North Carolina.

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Figure: GOES-19 SUVI image at 1217 UTC on February 4, 2026 -- showing the signature of a strong solar flare.

PUBLICATIONS:

Paper Describing the Relation between Lightning and Wildfires in Western CONUS published in JAMC: A manuscript entitled “Characterizing the relation between lightning and wildfires in the western United States” by Rudlosky et al. was published in the November issue of the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. L. Heuscher and J. Otkin were co-authors of this study that develops a database of lightning that have ignited wildfires in the western United States during 2020-22. The database is then applied to examine differences between ignition and nonignition lightning. Lightning characteristics, land surface, and meteorological conditions were all examined; these variables indicate clear differences between the different lightning classes. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-25-0032.1 (L. Heuscher/J. Otkin, CIMSS).

OTHER: